(Newser)
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A Saudi judge says women who spend lavishly on items like designer abayas (black gowns) deserve to be slapped by their husbands, Arab News reports. His comments at a domestic violence conference invoked loud protests from women in the audience. The judge also lamented that "nobody puts even a fraction of blame" on women for the nation’s rising domestic abuse problem.

"This is how men in Saudi Arabia see women," a Saudi women's rights activist tells CNN. "They've been raised to see women this way, that they're less than a person."